Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Guest Post-- Of Soup and Storms

Stacy’s
“Souper Sundays” are legendary. That all changed when Superstorm Sandy came to
town. With her home destroyed and her family packed into her dad’s house, she
had a lot of time to think about the connections between food, family, and home.
She will have her first Souper Sunday since the storm next month.

Regardless of my mood or mental state, I can say with certainty that
I truly love my family, not just the crazy blood relatives, but my extended
family of neighbors and friends that prove time after time they are the stuff
that holds my head on my shoulders. There was no truer test of this than the
aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. While my husband and I shifted through the
rubble that was now our life, trying to pick up the pieces and make things
normal again, my entire family was knee deep in the literal muck with us,
clearing out our house and holding our lives together. As the new normal set in,
it became important to me to re-establish old traditions, making whatever house
we landed in a home. Being from a huge Italian family, those traditions all
include food. Massive amounts of food.

When I have a gathering, it is never small. I mean, who do you
cut out? The simple solution is to invite them all. And, when you are not a
gazillionaire and you want to actually socialize with your guests, what the
heck do you serve that doesn’t have you glued to a stove or grill? Well, for
me, the answer became soup. And, so began a few years ago Souper Sunday. I make
several different kinds of soup, cut up some bread, throw some bowls on the
counter and we have a no frills hell of a time. And, I am pretty damn good at
it, If I do say so myself. My soups are YUMMY.

Nearly a year after the storm, I unpacked a nice big green soup
pot a friend gave to me and decided it was time to soup again. As a small thank
you for the tremendous show of love, support, gift cards, baked goods, holiday
ornaments and shoulders to cry on, I had some of the office ladies over to my
house last weekend for our first Souper Sunday of 2014. Sometimes there is
nothing better than having an all female crowd pack the house and this was no
exception. I gotta say, I truly love these women. Regardless of career path,
home town, fashion sense or marital status, we just gel. Souper Sunday was a
prime example. And, while we bitched and drank and laughed and yelled, we ate
soup. A LOT of soup.

I am going to try my best to spell out for you my favorite
recipe of the day, maybe even give it a name. You see, I am not one for the
order and precision required for baking and complicated meals. Cooking for me
is a giant experiment that can always be fixed with the right amount of
seasoning. Here is the way I made this particular soup it most recently, cannot
say it was the same the time before. Be daring, throw away the measuring cups
and check this out:

Super awesome chicken soup with coconut milk:

·2 cups-ish of cooked chicken (I
cannot stand looking at raw meat)

·veggie broth (or chicken broth) –
one of those giant cans should do it

·1 can of coconut milk – whatever
the standard size is they come in, similar to a can of veggies

·2 sweet potatos - I don’t
peel any vegetables but you may want to

·Normal size onion – white or
yellow, never tried red

·A big can of diced tomatoes – I
used fire roasted this time

·A bag of frozen corn

·Some little grape/cherry tomatoes.
I prefer the yellow ones and I like the number 12 so that is how many I halved
and threw it

·Curry power

·Cumin

·Fresh Cilantro

·Lime

·Olive Oil

I don’t measure so first step, get a decent size soup pot and
coat bottom with olive oil. Dump in about a teaspoon of curry or chili powder
and the same amount of dried cumin and let it simmer for a few minutes. Then
add the veggies all diced – onions, tomatoes and sweet potatoes and let them
cook for a few minutes. Shred chicken and throw it in with the corn,
diced tomatoes and broth and let it simmer/boil under fresh veggies are edibly
soft. Lower heat and add coconut milk. Do not let boil. If you are a messy cook
like me, you should probably just do this before you are ready to serve.
Ladle into bowls and top with some cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice. Yeah I
said squeeze. Isn’t that “Souper?”

About Me

I see it this way: I can write about my feelings, which makes me want to go lie down and sob into some Hostess products, or I can write about food and throw in some handy recipes, which is way more festive.
All photos, unless otherwise stated, are copyrighted by my husband, so don't go stealing them unless you want him to get all Staten Island on your ass.